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Mr Depue, who has two daughters and one step daughter, said on the day of his accident he had just driven a load to Cincinnati and was driving back to his home state of Michigan to reload.

He said everything after the crash was a blur, but he remembers his wife coming to the hospital the next day when he was told what happened.

He added: 'I didn't know what to think. It was certainly like nothing I had ever experienced before.

'I knew an officer had saved my life and I was incredibly grateful to him, but until this footage appeared a few days ago I had no idea of his name or how bad the situation was.

'We saw each other for the first time the other day while doing an interview over the computer, and I just told him that he was my angel that day.'

Mr Depue said he began driving trucks while in the military from 1979 to 1983, and took on driving full time after coming out of the service.

Driver John Depue's truck had careered off the interstate highway and down a 60-foot embankment (right)

Devers is heard performing chest compressions in a bid to revive Depue, who has made a full recovery

He said he was off the road for two months after the accident, but has got back to driving now after being put on medication to stop his heart problem.

He said: 'It really was kind of emotional because I didn't know if the medication was going to work.

'What scared me more than anything was that I could've hurt somebody else. I couldn't imagine having to live my life knowing I went back to driving and it happened again and I would've hurt a family or something.

'But the doctors have told me that the medication will stop it, and the people I work for have been just fantastic about the whole thing.

'I can sort of pick and chose when I drive and if I'm ever feeling tired I can take the day off.